Southland (NBC – 2009, TNT – 2010-2013)
Cop shows are a dime a dozen. Every year, networks churn out a few “police procedurals” and end up having to bury most of them. In 2010, one of them was revived by TNT and Southland went on to a Peabody Award and a total of five seasons of what was some of the most accurate and raw portrayals of patrol work I’ve seen in film or television probably since Hill Street Blues, and maybe ever. It’s no Valentine to the badge and blue, nor is it the story of Vic Mackey and his boys [The Shield] being charismatic even though they’re actually criminals.
The diverse cast of detectives, administrators, and patrol officers portrayed by the likes of Regina King, Ben McKenzie, and Michael Cudlitz come off as real people in real and immediate situations heightened by the frantic handheld camera work of veteran directors, Christopher Chulack and Nelson McCormick.
Class, race, gender, sexual orientation, substance abuse, ethics, power, marital strife, suicide, the question of “What the hell am I really doing out here?” and more get dealt with touched on in each episode … and they’re all secondary or tertiary in each one. It has to get sorted out when the call is over and the job is done. And that might be the realest part of it all.
–Matt Widdis
